Saturday, February 4, 2012

Ever have something in mind but just can't find it? I searched high and low for Paris themed bridal shower invites, and I had something of an idea rattling around in my head, but I could not find it anywhere. Then I came upon this shop on Etsy.com and she had made little Paris Passports for her daughter's 1 year birthday. I thought they were perfect! But then I saw the price tag... Ouch! I just could not bring myself to pay the exuberant amount they wanted. And being the big DIYourselfer that I am, I thought "I can do that myself!" And so I did.

I had a lot of people ask where I got them and when I told them I made them myself, they asked how. So here it is! My big secret!

PHOTOSHOP!

Or in my case, since I can't seem to afford photoshop, GIMP(its free). Ha! And my total cost for this project? About $15 for 40 invites!

First, if you have a real passport take a good look. I tried to go fairly close to the general format. Plus, you need a passport or something similar in size for the stencil.

Second, you'll need whatever print paper you want to use. I bought about 20 sheets (12x12) from Michael's on sale which was about $10. However, regular 8x10 size is best for this project. I had white card stock already for the inside of the passport and airline tickets. And I bought the black ribbon for $1.25 from Walmart.

To start, you need to make a stencil with the passport or whatever you're using, so that later you can use it to cut each passport out to size. Take the passport, open it and lay it flat, and trace it on a regular piece of paper. Then cut it out. Stencil done!

Start your design for the front of your passport on your Photoshop program. You can even use regular Microsoft word as well for this stage. Use whatever font you like. I used regular Times New Roman. Adjust size to however big you want the words to be. Make sure there is enough space between the word "Passport" and the "country name" at the bottom. You need space for the round center symbol that comes later. And align to the right. When you print you have to keep in mind it will be folded. Also, I fit about 2 invites to a sheet of paper to conserve supplies. As a test, print on regular paper first and hold your stencil up to see if it fits. Adjust placement as needed. Once done, print!

For the center symbol, find a usable image or make one of your own on the photoshop program for the center front. Its not as hard as it looks! Just a black outlined circle with the "Paris" image from Google and then I added my sisters name etc. Print how many of these you will need. You will be cutting them out and gluing on front later.

Now for the inside....this is the same as far as figuring out the size. Use your cut out stencil. You can have it say whatever you want or use the wording I made up. Its a passport so it should look official so to speak. Use a picture of the person whom the party is for and the details. Use different fonts like a real passport does. When it looks how you want, print!

And now comes the fun part. You need to cut them all out with the stencil, but don't round corners yet...once everything is ready, place the inside and the outside together with regular ol' glue sticks. When they are nice and together, round the corners on the opening side using scissors or that fun scrapbook tool.

Last, cut out and glue your center design on the front. And voila! You're done!

If you want to do the airline ticket as well, its a bit simpler. Using a Photoshop program, make a basic template to your liking with the details of the party. I used all the same info from the passport. Add elements like a barcode, square outlined letters in a bold color for seating or gates. I used an Eiffel Tower image for a light background. And Shh..... I stole the AirFrance logo! Or make up an airline name. Arrange to your liking. I added a light veritcal line to make the "stub" effect. Then I cut them all out, and to add the remaining look of the end stub, I used scissors to make a small indent at the spot where the line drew through. And I chose to round the corners on the tickets as well.

On a side not, there are several free templates for airline tickets I found thru Google.

For the finishing touch I inserted the ticket into the passport and tied a black ribbon around them. If I had had more energy I would have liked to have made a travel sleeve. If you design one, let me know! Then into the envelopes they went!

I hope this was easy to follow. I don't write directions all that often except recipes. Haha! Enjoy and if you have questions don't hesitate to ask!

Happy party planning!

I am adding my email address here: Redstarbrst@hotmail.com

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or want help. I missed so many comments over the last few years because I'm not on here as often as I should be and blogger doesn't have the best notification system. I really do want to help!